Carnivores and Herbivores
by E.M.K.81
Summary: Summary: It’s not easy to be friends when one is a carnivore and the others are his potential next meal. Set after Ice Age 3.


**Carnivores and Herbivores**

_Summary: It's not easy to be friends when one is a carnivore and the others are his potential next meal. Set after Ice Age 3._

_Sorry for my bad English. I learned in school, but it's been years since._

It was a beautiful warm summerday in the small valley where the weirdest herd ever currently resided. This small valley had been perfect to spend the summer there – the grass green, the leaves fresh, a small lake with fresh water and a few rocks to lie upon at noon to enjoy the sunshine.

Best of all there was a herd of mammoths with children in Peaches' age. Manni worried about Peaches having only Eddie and Crash to play with, she should play with mammoths like herself so she could grow up as normal as possible in this strange herd. So Ellie and Manni often went to visit the other mammoths, who soon accepted them and Peaches really found friends in the herd.

Eddie and Crash found it was fun playing near the lake where nearly every living creature had to go to drink, making them an easy pray for the opossums' pranks.

Sid had found himself a few trees, where he could hang around and eat leaves. That was all he did, eating and sleeping.

For Diego the valley seemed to be an ideal hunting ground, with many bushes and groups of trees or rocks to hide behind when he was stalking his prey. Since he was the only large predator around he needn't worry about someone stealing his prey or frightening them away. Knowing his friends felt very uncomfortable about his feeding habits, Diego the sabertooth tiger always made sure none of his friends were around when he had to hunt.

At this lovely summerday Peaches was playing with hr parents at the lake, when suddenly a mammoth from the mammoth herd arrived. "Manni, Ellie, have you seen little Jerry?" the mammot asked worriedly. "Not today, why do you ask?" answered Ellie. The mammoth was slightly out of breath but couldn't wait to answer: "He and Peaches are friends, aren't they? So when we couldn't find him this morning we thought he might have gone to play with her. We can't find his mother either, so we started looking for them… maybe you could help us?"

Ellie wanted to stay to look after Peaches as Manni joined the search for the two lost mammoths.

Manni asked the fellow mammoths when and where they had last seen the lost members of their herd, then went so ask Diego for help. He knew to Diego it would be a child's play to find them, even if Diego grew tired of finding someone Mannie – or Ellie, or the opossums or even Sid – had lost.

Manni was a little bit nervous since Diego only separated from his herd for a longer time in order to hunt and the last thing Manni wanted to see was his friend killing some other animal, but he had promised to help so he had to risk ruining Diego's hunt.

Manni saw a herd of antelopes on one of the finest fields of grass in the valley, they seemed to be carelessly enjoying themselves. "Sorry guys, do you know where the sabertooth tiger is?" Manni asked. "Of course we know, would party here like that if we didn't?" said the leader of the antelope herd. "Can you tell me where he is?" Manni asked.

"Yeah, he is having some sort of weird sleeping contest with a sloth at the rocks. The tiger must have caught something big tonight, he seemed satisfied and very pleased with himself." Another antelope cut in: "I think he ate far too much, his belly was round and he could barely walk. Come on, let's celebrate, 'cause we don't have to worry about that damn tiger hunting us for at least one week!"

"Thank you" Manni said and went to the place the antelopes had called "the rocks". There on the south side in the sun he found Diego and Sid, both sound asleep. Both of them were lying on their backs, their bellys round from far too much food. Neither – not even Diego that is since Sid would never have the reflexes – noticed Manni until he stood over them, shading them from the sun.

"Sorry to interrupt your sleeping contest" Manni said loud. Diego opened the left eye and murmured: "Would you please go one step aside? I like the sunshine." "Diego, I need to talk to you." "Can't that wait 'till the evening? I'm tired." "No, it can't, now get up and listen to me!"

"Aww, no I was so determined to win the sleeping contest this time…" Diego moaned and sat up carefully not to move too much. Then he slapped Sid rather hard over the head. "Hey, what was that for?" the sloth complained. "Sleeping contest interrupted, sloth. I won't let you win this time" Diego grinned, then turned to Manni: "Ok, I'm listening. What do you want?"

"Diego, I need your help finding some lost mammoth."

Diego stretched and yawned. "So you need the sabertooth tiger to track them down, do you?" he teased playfully. "This is not funny, Diego, a mammoth mother and her calf are lost!"

"The young mammoth cow with the grey calf with one crippled leg?" Diego asked. "Yes, how do you know?" Manni asked "Little Jerry is one of Peaches friends."

Diego turned round, not willing to tell Manni face to face what he had to tell him. "Manni, tell Jerry's mother that I'm sorry…" "What? I won't tell her that you are sorry but you have to sleep so you can't help finding her calf!" Manni shouted.

"No, you don't understand – I… I have already found them…" Diego trailed off. Manni refused to understand what his friend was telling him. Somehow he did know, but he refused to believe it.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Manni, the calf is dead and it's mother ran off for good. She must be miles away by now."

"But how…?"

"You don't want to understand, Manni, but even a mammoth like you can't be that naïve!" Diego suddenly growled frustrated. Did he have to explain everything? Didn't Manni see the obvious?

"Diego, you would never…" Manni started but never finished the sentence as he saw Diego bowing his head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he was Peaches friend… If I had known, I'd never…" The sabertooth tiger tried to explain. Slowly Diego turned round to face his mammoth friend. Suddenly he felt ashamed – he knew he shouldn't feel that way because what he did was only the natural thing to do, but he couldn't stop this bad feeling. He felt like a coward standing there with his back to Manni, not daring to tell his friend face to face. If there was a little pride and a little dignity left in him, he had to turn round.

Diego cleared his throat and started: "Last night I was out hunting. Don't look at me like that, you know I have to do that sometimes! I found a mammoth and a calf. No sabertooth tiger can take down an adult mammoth alone, even attacking one is nearly suicide. But this cow looked sick and the calf even sicker so I… well, I thought it was worth trying. I was very hungry, since I hadn't had a decent meal for months and so I thought if I could catch something as big as that calf I wouldn't have to worry about food for at least a month, maybe even more. The next winter will be hard enough, and I… I never thought I would succeed in separating the mammoth and the calf but this mammoth panicked when I attacked her… she panicked and ran away, the calf with the crippled leg not able to follow her, so I finally took it down – which wasn't easy given the size of the calf."

Diego shook his head and silenced himself. He sounded like Sid prattling on and didn't like it. He knew he had to explain his actions somehow, but this wouldn't do. Think, tiger, before you talk! he scolded himself.

Manni felt sick as he listened to Diego's story. Then he became more and more angry as he thought about it.

"You are eating mammoth?" Manni roared and Diego flinched, ready to run should Manni decide to hit him.

"I'm a sabertooth tiger! I can't live on leaves!" Diego argued.

"That I know, but since I am a mammoth, Ellie is a mammoth and Peaches…" Manni felt his stomach turn at the mere thought of someone eating Peaches.

"I would never even think about attacking you, Ellie or Peaches, you know that!" Diego answered.

"Not even if you were very hungry?"

"I'd rather die of hunger, Manni, you know that! I would give my life to save them!"

"But you eat mammoth!"

"I didn't know it was one of Peaches friends. I really didn't know."

"But you knew Peaches kept visiting the mammoth herd!" Manni said accusingly.

Diego felt the need to defend himself and didn't like it.

"Yes, but Ellie told me Peaches was only allowed to play with kids whose mothers were trustworthy enough to look after Peaches too – Ellie wouldn't trust someone like that mammoth to look after Peaches! That one was one of the worst mothers I've ever seen – running away at the slightest danger and not even try defending her child! I've seen antelopes, even small things like birds or rabbits, which showed more courage."

Manni shuddered and took a deep breath. He needed time to think about it, so he just walked away. "Manni, if I had known, I'd never…" Diego called after him. "Stop it, Diego, I need to think. We'll talk later."

Diego sat down. Suddenly he felt miserable, but then there was something else, a feeling in him, telling him it wasn't his fault, he wasn't guilty of anything it was only that herbivores lack of understanding.

"I believe you" Sid said.

Diego looked at the sloth. He had actually forgotten he was there, Sid being silent, that was rare and it only showed just how serious the situation was.

"Tell me, Sid, did I eat one of your friends too?" Diego sighed. "No, I have no friends except members of our herd", the sloth answered, then started padding Diego.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you are doing, sloth?" Diego pushed him away. Sid shrugged: "I was just trying to hug you. Everybody needs a hug now and then." "Tigers don't!" "Awww, come on, how would you know, you never let me hug you!" "Sid, even if I needed someone to hug me it would certainly not be you!"

Diego left, he needed to be alone to think about what happened and what to do. That was the day he had feared since he joined the weirdest herd on earth. He was a sabertooth tiger, he needed to kill to feed, but thanks to the strange habits of the herbivores of making friends with nearly everybody who just crossed their way he could never be sure if he wasn't eating one of their so called friends. And how would he know? He had told them, time and again, to introduce him to their friends so he would know them and not kill them. At first they did, but then they became careless and Diego refused to care himself. Why should he be the only one to suffer the burden of a carnivore-herbivore friendship? They should help him with that. He dearly loved his friends, but sometimes it was a burden he wasn't sure he could bear. That's why carnivores usually don't even talk to herbivores.

He couldn't change the past. He had to decide how to get on. Maybe he should leave them for good. But he was still Diego, the sabertooth tiger. He wouldn't sneak away like a coward. He owed it to himself, to his self-respect and pride to face them, to defend himself and if there was no other way to tell them that he would leave the herd. He had to do it, not because of loyalty, of guilt or anything else, he had to do it, because he was Diego. Diego, always making tough decisions, always taking the hard ways… just because he was Diego. Sometimes he wished he could take the easy path like Sid.

It was late in the night as Diego arrived at the small lair of his herd. Peaches, the opossums and Sid were asleep, Manni and Ellie not.

"Good evening" Diego purred as softly as he could, but startled them nevertheless.

"We need to talk", Diego started.

"Yes we do", Manni agreed, "How am I to explain to Peaches you killed her friend?"

"Manni, listen, I won't tell this twice. I didn't know that calf was one of Peaches friends. If I had known, I'd never hunted it. How many times did I tell you to introduce me to your friends so I wouldn't hunt them? I'm sorry but I will not apologize for who and what I am, I will not feel guilty or ashamed. I am a sabertooth tiger and if you can't accept me as I am, tell me – tell me face to face you don't want me in your herd."

At first both mammoths felt silent, not knowing how to answer. It was Ellie who spoke first: "Wow, I didn't expect that from you."

"What?" Diego was confused. Ellies face somehow lit up as she said: "I knew it! You are a good guy, Diego, and I am really happy you finally talk about your feelings!"

"What?" Diego didn't understand. When had he started to talk about his feelings?

Ellie explained quickly: "I knew it wasn't easy for you – but I didn't want to say something until you were ready to admit that you needed help."

"Since when do I need help?" Diego asked, his tone more confused than fierce.

"It is hard to be the only carnivore in this heard. You must feel like an outcast, ashamed of who you are and how you have to live – but you can't change that. If you could I'm sure you would already have done so. I'm sorry we left you alone with the problem, maybe we should have known your pride wouldn't allow you to ask for help. I just want you to know you can come to me whenever you need someone to talk to."

As Ellie finished her little speech, Diego whispered to Manni: "What the hell is she talking about?" Manni shrugged, he had given up trying to understand everything his mate said. Sometimes he wondered if it was a result from her opossum-education or if it was her nature as a female.

"I didn't ask for a therapy session" Diego growled "I asked you if you can accept me as I am, which includes you accepting that I sometimes kill and eat – even mammoths, sloths, opossums or whatever I catch. I will never hurt any member of our herd but everybody else is my potential next lunch, and I don't want any complaints about that."

"I think we have to put that on a vote" Manni answered. "Why? I can tell you Peaches is too young to decide something like that, Sid is too lazy to decide and Ellie's brothers aren't able to take anything serious, they would just make fun of it. No, it comes down to the three of us to decide. And I want your decision right now, no more psycho-babble!" Diego was angry. He had planned to get this over with quickly but Ellie wanted to talk about it endlessly. Why did she have to make everything so complicated?

Manni sighed. "I overreacted, but it was a shock to me to learn that you eat mammoth meat. You see – we are mammoths, and… well… and my daughter…"

"We agreed I won't eat you, that doesn't go for your entire race!"

"But how do I tell Peaches she can't play with Jerry?"

"Tell her the truth – a sabertooth tiger ate him. Why shouldn't she know sabertooth tigers are dangerous?"

"But…"  
Diego cut Manni of, before he could finish: "Forget it, Manni. If you think about every leaf like that you are going to starve. Right now I want to hear a 'yes' or a 'no' and no speeches – understood?"

Ellie didn't want to make any decision, before she knew the whole story. Diego didn't want to tell every detail and so there was a lengthy discussion what details exactly Ellie needed to know. In the end, Manni figured out what his mate was asking – Diego couldn't since it seemed completely unimportant to him.

"Diego, I think Ellie isn't interested in any details of the hunt. I think she only want's to know why you attacked Jerry and his mother – you said yourself no sabertooth tiger could ever take down a mammoth alone, it would be suicide."

"Oh, if that is all that's bothering you – alright" Diego started "I was stalking some antelopes, you know. But then the mammoth calf and its mother came and they decided to frighten the antelopes away just for fun. I was very hungry and furious, so I leaped at them and roared. It wasn't a real attack, I was just angry. But then the mammoth panicked – she really panicked, I don't even know why since she must have known I was no thread to her. She ran off and left her crippled calf. That was a rare opportunity, something like that happens maybe once every hundred years and… well, so I did what I did."

"But I left Peaches in her care sometimes, when the kids played…" Ellie gasped. "How many times am I to repeat that I didn't know?" Diego snarled.

"I'm shocked. I should never have trusted her to look after Peaches!" Ellie shouted. "If she leaves her own baby at the slightest sign of danger – how could I rely on her protecting Peaches? Manni, we have to tell Peaches she can't play with the other mammoth kids – I don't want her to be with kids whose mothers are that careless!"

"Um, sorry to interrupt – but I'm still waiting for an answer!" Diego asked.

Ellie smiled at him, but it was a forced smile. Obviously it would take time until she and Manni would be able to trust their friend as they had before. "Of course you can stay. But please, one favour: no hunting when Peaches is around!" Ellie said.

Diego let out a relived sigh. For a moment he really feared he might be asked to leave the herd. It would take a few month until he and the mammoths would be at ease again but they had been through worse.

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Please review this story, maybe I'll write more..._


End file.
